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In light of continuing leadership scandals, ethics education has become a recurrent topic in public discourse. However, advancement of educational models, formats, and content rest with a number of questions that remain unanswered and subject to mixed research results. In this study, we contribute to the discourse on ethics education and its fundamental questions on the role of education in shaping attitudes towards business ethics. Through a survey of 619 students in Iceland, we examine the attitudinal differences between business and non-business students, and the effects of education. The results of the study indicate that education of the future business leaders calls for a contextualized approach to business ethical dilemmas. The study yields implications for secondary and tertiary levels of education.Keywords: business ethics, education, ethics education, ethical leadership, 1. INTRODUCTIONScandals and corruptions in large corporations over the last decades have contributed to the increased emphasis on the ethics of today's business (Kum-Lung & Teck-Chai, 2010; Phau & Kea, [...]

Virtual teams are a necessity in global and even regional businesses today when operations and employees with special talents are not willing or able to relocate to a job or operational site. Traditionally a key employee was relocated to a company site to bring expertise to the team in a face to face environment. These employees were generally experts with technical skills or senior managers who were needed to head up operations in a foreign location. With employees being centralized, traditional leadership styles could therefore be applied relatively comfortably and effectively as the relationship was 'face-to-face' (f-2-f). However, the roles and needs of global operations in the new 'green era' are changing all these traditional paradigms. With the development of technology, there has been a serious look at calling on and tapping in to expertise without the additional expense of relocations or travel. Travel is not a green response to the needs of business today; time, travel, relocation and cultural displacement result in expenses that basically ignore the advantages of leaving experts in the more advantageous work environments. The few studies of cost comparisons of conventional and virtual teams indicate major potential project cost reductions in such areas as travel/relocation, work efficiency and response-time. Management as well as the experts on a team could be more productive if linked through technology rather being relocated. However, managing from afar will not be the same as when it is conducted f-2-f. New leadership mindsets will be needed to organize and lead teams that are dispersed across the globe effectively and consistently. Clearly there is a need for a new form of management and leadership that effectively employs a virtual management base and approach which goes beyond the present cursory use of distance tools and actually creates effective, efficient and closely linked virtual global operations. Current leadership styles are really not suited to these new needs. The challenge today will be to develop a new management style or approach that embraces the virtual world of global business where face-to-face management environments no longer are the norm. Managing effective teams and operations from a distance will require a new mindset and paradigm. Leaders of today and yesterday will need to shift their approaches in time to meet the demands of the fluid global and domestic economic environments that are expected in the next few decades. One suggestion is to develop a virtual management style that takes advantage of the available technologies and minimalizes forced f-2-f environments. This will require regular training of managers and team members, development of trust, and fully embracing delegation and constant inclusive communication among all team members., INTRODUCTION The recent changes in the economic environment of the world today are drawing critical attention to all aspects of business operations. The efforts to keep businesses afloat are requiring [...]

The need for leaders to observe, understand and adapt is discussed.

A way that team leaders can enhanced knowledge management within their teams is proposed.

Leadership must balance directive style and a more devolved style that maximizes individual potential. Setting a boundary can serve both purposes, by representing the guidance, support and expertise of a leader, communicated via behaviour and actions. The boundary leadership model promotes creativity, performance and motivation, whilst maintaining managerial control and support.

An analysis of the relationship between leadership style and the degree of cooperation in marketing channels is presented. The results indicate that participative, supportive and directive leadership styles are effective methods of fostering channel member cooperation. Both the participative and directive styles of leadership are more effective in securing channel member cooperation. The results also show that fostering increased cooperation leads to increased channel member performance., Introduction With the intensification of international competition over the past decade, organizations have forged more strategic alliances with their suppliers and with their marketing channel members to meet the demands [...]

Business leadership The debate over whether or not chief executive officers (CEOs) make a difference in a firm's evolution and market performance takes on added value in an era of [...]